My deer rant

[clarkinks]

@ansayre

I’m very sorry to see this. Years ago they at times nubbed my trees off at ground level. Nature and I arrived at a truce many years ago. It is a fragile peace with both sides suspicious of the other. I would consider a fence if possible. The coyotes come here frequently now and the deer mostly do not. Getting things back in balance was not easy though once i accomplished it the problems mostly dissappeared. If i can make a suggestion consider growing rootstocks like BET first. Train the deer with very thorny rootsocks they learn to leave alone. This thread will explain one of my strategies.

Pyrus betulifolia aka BET rootstock for pears, the downside is the upside

Ever feel like turning away and running from part of your orchard? If you never have your invited to look at these photos to get the experience of Pyrus betulifolia. These are great rootstocks they deter animals with wicked thorns and dense foliage. A deer would chose to avoid them and always have at my property. A rabbit did half girdle a trunk once. Had they fully girdled it they would have found out it would send up 10 more in retaliation. Accidently ran over some with a mower once and l…

And then this one

Grafting large Callery and Betulifolia pear rootstocks

These callery are over 30 feet tall now but in this photo they were only a few years old. The foliage can be very brightly colored. In the fall red or orange leaves make callery very easy to find. My callery are all red leaf varities. In the spring or summer the foliage of wild callery is more green like the previous post. [467d43f8846d9014b2e175ff4a28ab8e950972a6.jpeg] If you want to know how to top work larger pears that can be seen here

@jvanheule above wisely mentioned dogs as a deers enemy as well. They do not give deer a minute to eat without harrasing them. If you do fence in an orchard a nice dog on patrol is hard to beat.